JoJo Siwa is known for her adorable music videos, love of glitter, sparkles and hair bows, and huge social media following (8.7 million on YouTube and counting!). But everything isn't always sunshine and rainbows for the famous 15-year-old. Siwa chatted with TODAY Style for the "Why I Love My" series to share how she deals with internet haters and how she's learned to love her hairline ... even if she jokes it's more of a "five head" than a forehead.
There's been a lot of people who have said that they don't like my hairline. But here's the thing, when I look in the mirror, I know that my hairline makes me who I am, it makes me special. It also makes me look like I have a "five head" (instead of a forehead), but that's OK because it's just little blond hairs up here that you can't see. But I love it, it makes me who I am and, it's just, it's my hairline!
People on the internet have been like, "Your hairline is so receding. JoJo Siwa is a 60-year-old dude who has a receding hairline." And it's kind of made me think, like, is my hairline actually receding?
I try not to read the comments on my YouTube page ... well, actually, let me rephrase that. I do read the comments, but I have the mean comments blocked. So I have words like, "hate," "mean," "brat," "ugly," etc. blocked so that I don't see them. And so my fans don't see them.
But videos is where it gets to me. That's where I end up seeing all the hate is when people will make videos like, "What's wrong with JoJo Siwa?" or "Why I don't like JoJo Siwa." Actually, if you search on YouTube, there's a video and it's the first thing that comes up (when you search my name) saying, "We'll make you hate JoJo Siwa." I see things that'll say something like, "Her hairline's receding. She's a giant toddler." And I'm like, oh, OK, all right. I love what I do, I am who I am. And it's just my life.
If I could say anything to the people who make those videos, I would probably say, "Thank you." Because those videos get a lot of views and they're saying my name and they're putting out a video with my picture in it. I don't know. I'm not going to say, "No, thank you." I'd rather have you make a nice video, but thank you.
The thing I love about social media is I can use my voice to reach millions of people with a singular post, which is so awesome. And the thing I hate about it is how much hate comes with it. You know, people can just comment anything they want and you don't even know who is commenting.
If you're getting hate on social media, here's what I would tell you to do. It's really easy, and it's not that complicated. All you've got to do if it's a comment is just delete and click the person and block them. Just delete and block, delete and block, delete and block, delete and block. That's all you've got to do, and focus on the nice comments. Because with every one hate comment, you're going to get nice comments. So, focus on those 10 nice comments and don't let that one hate comment get to your day.
Focus on those 10 nice comments, and don't let that one hate comment get to your day.
JoJo Siwa
The thing I learned about fame is that it isn't 100 percent good things — in all reality, it's 99 percent good things.
For example, like, people just showing up at your door. You just don't expect that. Or, people coming up to you in public and just videoing you. You just don't expect it. There's a lot of unexpected that comes with it, but there's so much more awesome that comes with it.
If I wished people knew something about fame, it would probably be that anybody who is famous is still normal. They still want to be asked, "How are you?" They still want to talk about their friends, and they still want to talk about their kids. They're not some crazy superhuman. They're just normal humans that are walking on planet earth.
The source of my confidence, I think comes from my friends and my family. Just because they're always there for me, they're supporting my every move. My family is so unbelievably supportive, my friends are so awesome and love me for who I am. And so, I think that's really why I'm like, OK, I feel comfortable with who I am and comfortable with what I do.
My motto is, always believe in yourself, and always follow your dreams. And I think that's super important because you can literally do whatever you put your mind to. I was 2 years old and I was like: I want to be a singer, I want to be a dancer, I want to be an actress, I want to be a performer, I want to be Hannah Montana. And I'm living out my dream literally right now, which is crazy.
As told to TODAY's Emily Sher. This story has been edited and condensed for clarity. The story was originally published Jan. 15, 2019.